I'm Marisa Wojcik for "Here& Now".

>> In state budget news from 1987 to 2005, the state had a film office spending millions of dollars to attract blockbuster productions like Public Enemies to film in Wisconsin in a sort of take.

Two state lawmakers just agreed to fund a new production incentive program.

The state budget reestablished the Wisconsin Film Office and offers up to $5 million in tax credits to filmmakers.

They're banking on more Hollywood movie makers and local filmmakers to bring their work to Wisconsin.

Here and now, reporter Murv Seymour has details.

>> Thanks, everybody for coming.

This is such a cool turnout.

Let's talk about bringing Tinseltown to the Chippewa Valley.

>> On this cool summer evening in the heart of downtown Eau Claire.

writing, story editing.

>> Locals passionate about filmmaking have come to the town's library to learn.

You can say that if you're an actor, you can say that.

>> Learn from each other about what they can do to encourage and cultivate more filmmaking projects, large and small, to be made in the state of Wisconsin.

>> This turnout is crazy.

>> Tim Schwagel helps set up for this night of collaborating.

lot of people care about filmmaking, care about film or art in general.

We're kind of an island where it doesn't feel like there's a lot of people that do filmmaking in the area.

But as I've learned over the years, is that people just kind of appear and you meet someone who's right in the same town.

It's like, oh, you do this too.

So this is kind of the first time that we've had an event that brings us all to one spot.

>> Almost 70 people passionate about filmmaking >> Somebody who sold a Netflix movie, other people who have shown their documentary around the state.

Actors, writers.

We got Christmas tree farms.

We can do Christmas movies here.

>> Tonight's event has been organized and is led by Nathan Deming, a Los Angeles filmmaker who splits his time between Hollywood and his hometown of Eau Claire.

>> Roll camera please.

>> So far, he's shot five movies in Wisconsin.

He wants to boost local filmmaking in big Hollywood productions in the state.

[MUSIC] You're watching a clip from his most recent movie called February.

least in my world, could have predicted ten years ago that we'd be looking at headlines that Hollywood is leaving LA.

I think the new future is that films going to be everywhere in the hotspots, and it's going to be because of things like the film office.

>> At a time when a movie can be made anywhere.

Up until now, Wisconsin was one of only three states with no state film office and one of only a few states that didn't offer financial incentives to help lure productions to the state.

>> It is all about money.

[MUSIC] there's free money.

>> Production incentives are the number one factor that production companies consider when they decide where to film.

>> I met with former Miramax movie executive Jeff Kurz Inside Independent Studios, a post-production house in Milwaukee that serves large Hollywood based productions and local ones to.

I'm going to guess that you're a pretty important guy in the city.

his movie Deep Woods, and his last two films in Wisconsin.

>> Filmmaking is not something that just happens in New York or Los Angeles or Atlanta or Chicago.

>> Kurz represents a steering committee of filmmakers, business owners, government officials and others who want Wisconsin to compete with neighboring states in luring filmmakers to film in the Badger State by dangling tax breaks.

>> When I was having a conversation with somebody in Eau Claire, I said, listen, you have a beautiful community.

It is picture perfect to make a movie.

There.

But without a film office, there is nobody to tell an out of state production how great you are.

>> There's Banbury Place, this crazy factory thing.

You know, the rivers, you know, we have so many locations here.

>> Wisconsin's revitalized film office will now become part of the state's tourism department.

>> We are turning football fans into Wisconsin fans every moment.

We caught up with its leader during the 2020 NFL Draft in Green Bay.

>> Is a lot about those people coming into Wisconsin to do the production and building a whole cottage industry around that, but it's also about setting a perception once it's on the big screen.

That's also important to the long term perception of Wisconsin.

>> In 2024, the hit TV series Top Chef filmed in Milwaukee.

The show is a highlight reel of Wisconsin culture, cuisine and community that has the entire state cashing in from its worldwide audience.

>> Because people were seeing this restaurant or that restaurant and then just wanted to go there and try it.

All of that is possible as a reverberation from from filmmaking, television making.

So it's not just the filmmakers who would benefit from something like that.

It's really the whole state.

>> The county of Milwaukee saw an uptick of $1.5 million in hotel room rentals alone from people coming here to see to see Wisconsin, right, to see what they had seen on television.

>> New Mexico implemented these and then got Breaking Bad, which was not written for New Mexico.

It just went there because of tax incentives.

And then suddenly it not only got that, it got better Call Saul.

So two hit shows.

>> The talent's here and it's always a roll of the dice to see if something blows up.

But I think it's easy for us to forget here in Wisconsin that Wisconsin is just gorgeous.

of that.

The Driftless Region, gorgeous.

And Lake Michigan.

So we have all of these different terrains.

We have cities like Madison and Milwaukee.

>> Superior offers 25% film incentive for the city itself.

If you stay at their hotels.

Right.

As LA is losing jobs and filming, Illinois is exploding.

Minnesota is exploding.

City like Duluth.

A lot of filming happening on the Duluth side.

Nothing on the Wisconsin side.

And it's just because of film incentives.

>> There are no dollars that are better than Hollywood dollars.

Hollywood filmmaker and Milwaukee native John Ridley when it comes to him or any other large budget film shooting in Wisconsin, he point blank told me this.

>> Until Wisconsin gets tax credits, and that's something that I've advocated for.

No, that's not going to happen.

>> Ridley proudly tells me he routinely shoots smaller projects in Wisconsin.

>> But in terms of doing feature films out here, whether it's myself or anybody else, Wisconsin, I'm going to look into the camera.

You got to get tax credits.

We've talked about this.

You got to advocate for tax credits.

>> Enough said.

Mr. Ridley.

action.

>> Georgia built a really good film incentive program and brought in a lot of business.

And there's movies now that are set in New York City.

But if you watch the credits, there's going to be of it.

There is zero soundstages in the entire state of Wisconsin.

So right now that's a huge thing that if productions want to film like 100 years, the film industry is morphing and we have a real opportunity to pick up the work, just like our neighbors Illinois and Minnesota are doing.